Insightful Articles

Over the past week, the Washington Post has produced some superb articles on why this past season was so tough. The pieces provide keen introspective writing into the Redskins organization, thanks to unrivaled access to coaches and players.

The Post identifies a few key areas that led to unraveling:

General Manager - This has been brewing for years. Mention of a hiring of a true general manager seems a promising development, as a number of issues are deeply rooted in the fact that personnel duties are being ineptly handled by cronie Vinny Cerrato.

The issues are around high-priced busts, letting core guys go, and losing respect from players that do stay who watch the soon-to-be busts get rich contracts.

This also manifests itself in unwise personnel decisions from coaches -- arrogance of the coaches about belief in their systems rather than maintaining core players (Antonio Pierce, Ryan Clark) and solid depth (Walt Harris, no up-and-coming draftees).

Al Saunders - Although both originating from Don Coryell, Gibbs' offense is much more conservative than Saunders' high-octane version (like Martz). A ball-control style complements an aggressive and tough defense (think early 90's Giants, late 90's Tampa Bay Bucs and Baltimore Ravens). A high-flying offense is often accompanied by a leaky defense that doesn't get sufficient time to rest (Martz' Rams and modern-day Chiefs and Colts). Starting over with a brand new huge playbook was a big frustration to the offensive personnel.

Also, it is frustrating to Saunders to not have complete control that he thought he was going to get.

Gregg Williams - Williams has demonstrated that he can be successful. To me, most of the shortcomings on the defensive side of the ball are due to personnel decisions. If a general manager high on Pierce, Clark, and even Smoot kept all of them, the Skins would have played at a much higher level this past season. Keep Williams coaching his hard-nosed style and out of player acquisition input and Washington produces a first-rate defense.

Hands on vs. Hands off for Gibbs - This particular issue was less expounded on by the Post writers and is more my own perspective. All was looking well and good when the Skins improved from 6-10 to 10-6. Gibbs moving to a backseat CEO role seemed like a comfortable way for Dan Snyder to see how the sports franchise could be run. Gibbs could ease his way out of it by handing the reins to others. Snyder, learning from Gibbs, could stay removed. The problem is that this team was definitely not ready after two years the transition for Gibbs to be hands off. After three straight years in the playoffs with stability, a gradual transition would have been effective. It transpired far too quickly the way it happened.